Delts, Ball State, angry blacks, gunfire

[hoosier]

(It's unknown if Haskins or Engler are Delts)

Student arrested for frat gunfire

Associated Press
April 8, 2005
_
MUNCIE, Ind. -- A Ball State University student was arrested early today after firing 13 shots into the air in an effort to break up a fight outside a fraternity house.
Ricky C. Haskins faces charges of criminal recklessness with a handgun and possession of a handgun without a permit. He was released after posting a $1,250 cash bond.
The 22-year-old, who had been inside the Delta Tau Delta fraternity house, told police he witnessed a fight outside and tried to break it up about 2:15 a.m. Friday.
When he was ignored, he walked into the middle of a street, pulled his 9mm Ruger pistol out of his back pocket and fired a full magazine into the air, he told police.
No one was injured when the bullets struck the ground, said Sgt. Steve Cox of the Muncie Police Department
According to police reports, several partygoers believed they were kicked out of the party by the mainly white fraternity because they were black.
After leaving, some in the group threw beer bottles at the house and hit a student, Jake Engler, 21, in the back of the head when he confronted them, according to reports.
Engler was treated at Ball Memorial Hospital for a cut that required eight staples, the report said.

[Tom Earp]

What this YOUNG man does not realize, is what goes up must come down!

While His intentions may have been good at the moment, it is called stupidity.

He will be paying for His good intintions gone awry!

[DeltAlum]

Brother Dum Dum lucked out this time.

[mmcat]

clear crisp thinking is a good thing, ya know.
that wasn't it.

[Firehouse]

Tom, firing his weapon into the air wasn't the dumbest thing he did (there is little danger from bullets fired into the air); the worst thing this dumbass did was wade into a fight with a loaded gun in his pocket.

[g41965]

Bull this isn't dangerous as a criminal defense attorney I've seen individuals injured from shots fired in the air and agg assault charges filed on a theory of recklessness by the Defendant.

[Firehouse]

OK, sorry. Let me re-phrase. If you fire a gun into the air and the bullet hits, say, someone in an apartment building before its spent, then yes it's dangerous. However, a bullet fired straight up will eventually come down in free-fall. In free-fall, a bullet might sting you if it hit you in the head, or it might hurt even hurt you if you were looking up and it hit you in the eye. But, a bullet in free-fall poses virtually no real risk of harm.

[BSUPhiSig'92]

Oh great, more stupid @#%*+^! stuff happening at Ball State! At the rate things are going, there won't be a fraternity left there in 5 years. So depressing...

[Rudey]

Originally posted by madmax
Wrong. Every New Years people are killed when morons fire guns in the air and stray bullets come down.

Is it from the bullets coming down or accidentally shooting someone on the way up?

-Rudey
--Splitting hairs

[kddani]

Carrying a loaded firearm in a crowded party is just plain dumb.

Now, sororities don't have rules on this that I know of, but to fraternities have rules about having firearms? I would imagine that's a huge no-no.

[madmax]

Originally posted by Rudey
Is it from the bullets coming down or accidentally shooting someone on the way up?

-Rudey
--Splitting hairs

Both. If ityou get hit in the head, does it really matter where it came from?

http://www.9news.com/storyfull.asp?id=9816

[Firehouse]

Bullets in fee fall coming down won't hurt you any more than a small piece of smooth gravel. Muzzel velocity is a great deal different than free fall.

[roqueemae]

People die every year in New Orleans from shooting bullets into the year on New Years. The city has started a public relations campaign to try to educate people about that. Evidently Firehouse is not the only one who thinks it is okay


Taken from freerepublic.com:

Washington, D.C. - In dozens of American communities this New Years Eve, overexcited individuals will welcome in 2005 with an act of stupidity that may kill an innocent person in the bargain.

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence united with the Million Mom March is joining with America's police departments to urge Americans not to engage in what police call "celebratory gunfire" - the indiscriminate unloading of weapons into the air. On New Years Eve and Independence Day each year, scores of people place others at risk of injury or death as a result of celebratory gunfire. When a bullet is fired into the air, the bullet has to come down somewhere.

The practice of celebratory gunfire has been a problem in cities like Miami, New Orleans, Phoenix and Los Angeles and in towns along the U.S. and Mexico border. Last year, it became such a problem in Puerto Rico that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were called in for advice.

"Every police group in America supports national and local efforts to educate citizens on the dangers of celebratory gunfire," said John Shanks, Law Enforcement Relations Director for Brady/MMM. "Every police officer in America would urge people not to do something as reckless as this."

"The danger inherent in this activity ought to be obvious," continued Shanks. "It makes no sense whatsoever to fire a weapon into the air, not knowing where the bullet may fall. This is probably the most unsafe, crazy practice people engage in on New Years Eve."

Four years ago, Phoenix, Arizona enacted Shannon's law, in memory of 14 year-old Shannon Smith, killed by a stray bullet in June 1999 while talking on her phone in her back yard. The law makes it a felony to fire a gun into the air within the city limits. Yet in 2003, there were still 95 cases of random gunfire successfully prosecuted in the city of Phoenix.

How dangerous can it get? Consider one of the risks facing America's service men and women in Iraq. Last November, celebratory gunfire in Baghdad following the death of Saddam Hussein's two sons cost 31 Iraqis their lives, including two young children. Seventy-six others were wounded.

[madmax]

Originally posted by Firehouse
Bullets in fee fall coming down won't hurt you any more than a small piece of smooth gravel. Muzzel velocity is a great deal different than free fall.

Not quite.


The first thing to realise is that what goes up, usually comes down. The bullet will come down, but it will come down more slowly. A bullet is fired at a typical muzzle velocity of around 2,700 ft. per second, or around 3,000 kilometres per hour. Once the gases stop pushing it, it begins to slow down due to two forces - the resistance of the air that it's pushing through, and the downward suck of gravity.

Typically, a bullet will take around 30 seconds to climb to a height of around three kilometres, at which point it has a velocity of zero. Then it falls. As the bullet falls, it's subject to two forces - the suck of gravity trying to pull it faster, and the wind resistance slowing it down. The suck of gravity is not as powerful as the explosive gases that push it out of the barrel. So it will accelerate to a maximum speed of not 3,000 kilometres per hour, but somewhere between 330 and 770 kilometres per hour - depending upon the weight and shape of the bullet.

Now a speed between 330 and 770 kph is not as much as 3,000 kilometres per hour, but it's more than enough to penetrate any human skull. You need a velocity of only around 220 kilometres per hour to do that.

Most people who have been hit by bullets falling out of the sky get hit on their upper back, the top of their head, or their shoulders.

In Kuwait after the end of the Gulf War, the Kuwaitis celebrated by firing weapons into the air - and 20 Kuwaitis died from falling bullets. In Los Angeles, between the years 1985 - 1992, doctors at the King/Drew Medical Center treated some 118 people for random falling-bullet injuries. 38 of them died. Practically all of the injuries were due to happy holiday weekend revellers.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/homework/s95523.htm

[roqueemae]

Love you max